Magnify the Lord With Me

Today's lesson comes from my pastor's message on magnifying the Lord (Psalm 34).  It is short, but oh so sweet!

He brings up a scenario in which a mother brings a newborn home.  That mother is now responsible for baby's physical welfare, as well as it's soul.  Now, that is a lot of responsibility.  So imagine, if you will, a mother looking on with adoration, as she tenderly holds her beautiful infant in her arms.  Her soft voice envelopes the child as she says,"This is what we will do, you and I.  We will magnify the Lord throughout our lives." 

What is Faith?

 Praise be to the God and Father of our 

Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed 

us in the heavenly realms with every 

spiritual blessing in Christ.

                                                   Ephesians 1:3

Our lesson today is taken from Ephesians 1:3 – 10, among other verses which will be given to you. It comes from a message that my pastor preached some months ago.  We will be asking and answering questions that will answer the big question of "What is faith?". 

1. What is the definition of faith? - Biblical faith is taking God at His word  (comes  from Romans 10:17 "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.")

We can only have biblical faith if we have a Bible. The Bible gives us revelation to God's characteristics, power, love, etc.  The Bible is our evidence that there is a God. Miraculous unity is our evidence that the Bible is true.  In other words, this is a book that is written by many different men from different many times, who did not know each other. They wrote about the same events that came to the same ends.  For instance, Psalms 22 prophesied  that they would gamble for the Christ's clothes in the future.

2.  What is the process of faith in our hearts? - There are three aspects of faith that men have talked about for years: 

   1) Knowledge -  We can't believe in something that we don't know is there.

   2) Assent - We need to accept that it is true.

   3) Trust - A personal commitment to and reliance on subject of faith.

3. How does faith fit us for heaven? - There is a "package" of salvation that we receive from God when we choose to make a personal commitment to Him. In this package are:

   1) Regeneration - When the Holy Spirit goes to work in our lives.

   2) Faith - Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says that, ..."it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so no one can boast."

  3) Union with Christ - We have eternal bond with Christ.

  4) Justification - We are declared fit for heaven because of the righteousness of Christ.

Saving faith follows with us throughout our lives, and leads to personal sanctification.

Thank you for joining me this morning.  God bless.

The Beginning of Acts

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift 

my Father promised, which you have heard 

me speak about. For John baptized with 

water, but in a few days you will be baptized 

with the Holy Spirit.

                                                                        Acts 1:4 – 5

For some time now, I have been wanting to study the Book of Acts. I have had some friends that have studied it themselves, and have strongly suggested that I do the same. I have a wonderful commentary called, "Believers Bible Commentary", by William MacDonald. So it is with a NIV Bible and this commentary that I began to study this book.

The Book of Acts is a record, written by Luke, of the transition period between Judaism and the New Testament church. We will see the Holy Spirit form, empower, and expand the new church. It will show a new fellowship of Jews and Gentiles who will be one in Christ. According to J.B. Phillips,there is no comparable period of human history that has "any small body of ordinary people so moved the world that their enemies could say, with tears of rage in their eyes, that these men 'have turned the world upside down!'"


When I read this this morning, I got excited to delve into this book, and I hope that you feel the same way.

A couple of days ago, we had a comment regarding baptism and the necessity of immersion. If we look at Acts 1:4 – 5, we will see that Jesus is addressing this subject to his apostles. The commentary that I am using seems to stress the baptism of the Holy Spirit being more important, as the baptism with water is on the outside; the baptism that we received from the Holy Spirit is in our hearts. Since Luke has started the book of the beginning of the church with the baptism of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, to me, it shows how important this baptism is.  Our hearts are what God looks at.  This is the Promise of the Father; it is a gift from God, and when we accept this wonderful gift, we have Jesus in our hearts.


Thank you for following God's Grace, and God bless you all.

Deuteronomy 29:29

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, 

but the things revealed belong to us and to our 

children for ever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

                                                                                       Deuteronomy 29:29

I have chosen this verse to study today because I believe that it shows what God expects us to know, and how He expects us to live. It is found in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.  However, the principle of this verse is found throughout the New Testament.

The book of Deuteronomy 29 speaks to the terms of the covenant between the Lord God and the Israelites. In 29:14 and 15, it is clear that this covenant was not only for the Israelites of that day, but for generations of God's people that follow.

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought 

to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.

                                                          James 4:17

These two verses clearly state what God, our Father, expects of us. He gave us His word to live by, to obey; and we are held accountable to that very word. He, and only He, sits in judgment.  This should be very clear to us. If there is any question as to what we should do in any circumstance, we have only to go to His word for the answer.


Thank you for following God's Grace, and God bless you.

I have been having a difficult time with my arm. I have tennis elbow, tendonitis and carpal tunnel. This is my only arm that I can use, so I must rest it. I will be back asap.

Cultivating Community

You can develop a healthy, robust 

community that lives right with God 

and enjoy its results only if you 

do the hard work of getting 

along with each other, treating 

each other with dignity and honor.

                                              James 3:18

Only the Holy Spirit can create real fellowship between us, as believers, by helping us to make the right choices in our lives. Paul points this out in Ephesians when he said, "You are joining together with peace through the Spirit, so make every effort to continue together this way" (Ephesians 4:3). In other words, we cannot produce a loving community without God's power and our effort.


Our effort includes a healthy relationship skill that we would learn from growing up in our family. However, some of us are not brought up in healthy families; therefore, we need to to be taught by others in God's family. The New Testament is the greatest instruction manual of all. Paul wrote, "I am writing these things to you…[so] you will know how to live in the family of God. That family is the church" (1 Timothy 3:14 – 15). We will be going over some cultivating ideas for real fellowship and a loving community in your Christian family the next few days.

Cultivating community takes honesty. When cultivating a loving community, we need to speak the truth instead of ignoring a problem. When we speak the truth, we speak it with love, so as not to hurt the feelings of others. It is sometimes easier to remain silent when we see someone doing the wrong thing. However, think about this: if you were unknowingly hurting someone that you cared about, wouldn't you want someone to set you straight right away, so that you could apologize and move on? We all have sin nature, so naturally we will all be in this position at some point. I know that all I would want someone in my family to correct me with Christian love; so that I could stop my self-destructive ways; leaving me ample time to mend any fences that I might have broken and wiping the slate clean again.


It is important that we have truthful fellowships and that we have the courage to help one another along life's bumpy road. The Bible tells us to "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). So we must able to lovingly confront our sisters and brothers who might themselves be confronted by temptation. Paul says, "Brothers and sisters, if someone in your group does something wrong, you who are spiritual should go to that person and gently help make him right again" (Galatians 6:1 – 2).

Paul had to rebuke the Corinthian church for their passive code of silence in allowing immortality in their fellowship (1 Corinthians 5:3 – 12). We must not let this happen in our fellowships.

Tomorrow, we will go over more cultivating ideas.  Thank you, and God bless you!

Experiencing Life Together ~ Wrap Up

Each one of you is 

part of the body of 

Christ, and you 

were chosen to live 

together in peace.

       Colossians 3:15

A while back, we discussed fellowship, as pertaining to "The Purpose Driven Life". Due to technical difficulties, we had to cut our lesson short. Today, we are going to wrap up this lesson, entitled "Experiencing Life Together".

God intended for us to share our lives with each other. This is called fellowship. The word fellowship now is used to describe casual conversation, socializing, food, and fun. When we say, "Where do you fellowship?", we often mean, "Where do you go to church?" This just skims the top of what fellowship means. Real fellowship means to experience one another's life together. Real fellowship is unselfish. It includes loving, sharing, serving, comforting, giving, and all the other commands in the New Testament that deal with relationships.  Real fellowship is usually found in a small gathering, not in church. Not to say that a church gathering is not important; but what a church gathering does is worship; while a fellowship meeting is a small, and more intimate gathering of brothers and sisters sharing each other's problems and triumphs.

The following are three bullet points that we have already gone over. I include them here to refresh your memory.

1. In real fellowship people experience authenticity.


2. In real fellowship people experience mutuality.

3. In real fellowship people experience sympathy.

As I stated above, these three points we have gone over in earlier lessons. So, I will start with the forth point.

In real fellowship people experience mercy. In fellowship, we often share our mistakes. We need to feel that these mistakes will not be held against us, but that we will receive mercy from our brothers and sisters. "We all need mercy, because we all stumble and fall and require help getting back on track" (Warren). God says "When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them, so they won't give up in despair" (2 Corinthians 2:7).  We can't have fellowship without forgiveness. We will never be asked to forgive someone more than God has already forgiven us.

When we are hurt by someone, we have a choice to make. Will we use our energy for retaliation or forgiveness? We can't do both. If we forgive, we must forgive immediately. This means to instantly forgive someone of their sin, and to not hold a grudge. In other words, do not burn inside.

Point to Ponder:

I need others in my life.

Verse two Remember:

Galatians 6:2

Question to Consider:


What one step I take today to connect with another believer at a more genuine, heart - to - heart level?